Fresno, California – 1998

Roger fidgeted with his waist belt outside the high school cafeteria where inside one hundred of his classmates ate their lunch. He could hear the jumbled voices of the other students, gossiping and chatting about this and that and the other.

Perhaps talking about him. About how Preston Florence had thoroughly embarrassed him last week.

It was just last Wednesday that Roger was quietly carrying his food tray when Preston stuck his leg out from the table. Of course, Roger fell forward in classic fashion and wound up with his lunch all over his face.

The other kids ate it up, figuratively.

The week before that? Preston had cut off the combo lock to Roger’s locker, and then put on a combo lock of his own. Roger had spent 10 minutes retrying his combination before noticing Preston and others laughing at him from down the hall.

Some might think Roger was blowing a few isolated instances out of control, but this went back. Way back.

Preston had been antagonizing Roger since they were in middle school. Specifically, when Preston found out Roger liked doing magic.

Was it so bad to love magic? Performing tricks? Captivating an audience? Dazzling them with imaginative moments?

Why couldn’t Preston just leave him alone?

Well, it didn’t matter now. Roger had had enough.

Roger peered through the double doors into the cafeteria and scanned through the rows of lunch tables. Far to the back Preston sat with his friends where he always does, laughing and talking with the rest of the kids. Roger didn’t necessarily have issues with his classmates in general, just his tormentor.

Like a snake, Roger smoothly walked through the rows of tables, and when no one was looking his way, he ducked down close to the floor. In one motion he rolled under Preston’s lunch table and quietly crawled the full length down to the feet of Preston and his friends.

With a few flicks of his wrist, his mission was complete. But if he was going to make it count, he had to act fast before Preston became the wiser.

A few moments later, Roger had crawled back out from under the table and began walking casually down past Preston.

Predictably, Preston couldn’t pass up a moment to haze him, which was just was Roger was counting on.

“Hey there, Rabbit,” sneered Preston, referring to Roger with his unimaginative moniker.

“Oh, hi… Preston,” shyly replied Roger, acting like prey.

“I was just thinking about you Ro-” said Preston before Roger decided to cut him off.

“And I was just thinking about you, Preston,” Roger interrupted.

The cafeteria was still busy and loud, but Preston’s table and the table next to them had all stopped and looked at them. It was no secret that Preston enjoyed publicly humiliating Roger.

“Preston, you’ve been on my case year after year after year,” asserted Roger, who barely kept his voice from cracking.

But this was the moment he had been building up to the past two months.

This was why he had taken a break from practicing magic.

This was why he had been learning self-defense.

“For all the bullshit you’ve pulled with me, I’ve had enough,” Roger stated.

Preston’s eyebrows raised with amusement.

“Oh yeah, Rabbit?” Preston asked. “You going to ask me to pick a card?”

A couple of Preston’s friends laughed obligatorily.

“No,” Roger responded. “I’m going to tell you to go suck a fat DICK.”

Now all the nearby tables were watching them.

And, that last remark did the trick. Preston attempted to stand to his feet and jump at Roger, but his legs didn’t cooperate, and he landed flat on his face on the cafeteria floor.

The rest of the students (and even Preston’s friends) laughed as Preston realized his shoelaces had been tied together. In a fit of rage, Preston attempted to pry one of his shoes off to regain mobility.

That was when Roger’s foot connected squarely with Preston’s face and the students’ laughing halted.

In a matter of moments, Roger was unleashing years of pent-up humiliation on his bully. And while his confrontation with Preston had started with a simple prank, it had evolved into full-scale physical assault.

Roger wasn’t even giving Preston a fair chance, and frankly, he didn’t think Preston deserved it. Preston could only meekly wriggle on the floor with his feet tied together and try to fend off and block the barrage of punches and kicks.

School staff members rushed to the scene, but before they could intervene Roger voluntarily stood up and began to walk away. Preston was left laying on the cafeteria floor in smudges and smears of his own blood.

Enough was enough. Roger may love magic and tricks, but no one was going to push him around because of it anymore. Ever.